Alas! For the gulls
by Ankatarin
Summary: Something about the explanation for Legolas' Sea-Longing always sounded (pardon the pun) fishy to me, so I came up with an alternate explanation


"Look", he cried, "Gulls! They are flying far inland. A wonder they are to me and a trouble to my heart. Never in all my life had I met them, until I came to Pelargir, and there I heard them crying in the air as we rode to the battle of the ships. Then I stood still, forgetting war in Middle-Earth; for their wailing voices spoke to me of the Sea. The sea! Alas! I have not yet beheld it. But deep in the hearts of all my kindred lies the sea-longing, which it is perilous to stir. Alas! For the gulls. No peace shall I have again under beech or under elm."  
  
Return of the King, page 183.  
  
They rode hard and fast across the wide plains of Lebennin, the Gray Company. The Haradrim tried to stop them, with swift sword and swifter arrow, but they were fell warriors and strong and ever their foes fell before them. But Man has limits, and these Men of the Dunedain and their tired horses were flagging as evening fell across the wide grasses. Aragorn saw this, and called a halt.  
  
"Would you scout ahead, Legolas?" he asked. "The ships of the Haradrim must berth somewhere near here, to spew forth so many of their scouts." The Dunedain wasted no time in complaint, but set to repairing minor tears in their saddlery and nicks in their weapons, in the uncertain halt. Elladan and Elrohir stayed in saddle, watching the horizon in opposite directions with nary a word of coordination.  
  
Legolas nodded and saluted Aragorn. He felt Gimli tumble from behind him, and smiled at the Dwarf's attempts to disguise his exhaustion. He scanned the treeless plain, looking for a good vantage point.  
  
Not quite treeless! There, at the bend in the river, was a lovely old oak. He could rest in the elvish way, and still scout.  
  
Legolas greeted the oak, after a pat and a promise to poor Arod. The horse was tired enough to forego returning the affection in favor of tearing at the high sweet grasses that grew at the river's edge. Legolas smiled at the tired horse, then turned to climb the tree. T'was then he first heard the birds, but at the time he thought nothing of it.  
  
It was a friendly tree, wide-branched and rough barked enough that even a Dwarf might be able to climb it as easily as a low-risered stair. Legolas gave himself over to the joy of the climb for bare moments, going a bit higher and further along the limbs than strictly necessary. For he saw in the gloom the collection of ships, and hard by the ships the ranks of Haradric warriors. They were numerous, but disordered. They should be no match for his companions and their following of dead warriors.  
  
Legolas leapt down, and took a moment to enjoy the stream.  
  
The great white birds circled the tree, calling and cawing. We must be near the Sea, thought Legolas. He smiled to think that Galadriel had warned him against this moment. Not a hair's difference did he feel, save slight fatigue and impatience to get on with the impending battle.  
  
He saluted the birds. "Another time, my friends," he said.  
  
They were arguing. He had never met this breed of bird, but it was not hard to understand their speech. "Mine! Mine! Mine!" they cried, as they tore into a fish tickled from the river's edge.  
  
One gull did not join the fray. It dived and sideswiped Legolas as he prepared to bestride Arod once more. Legolas halted. His people used birds as messengers in the far northern Greenwood. Perhaps this gull was friend to the sea elves, and he could through it send a message to his kin.  
  
The bird backwinged, and alit on the ground. Legolas stooped beside it, and looked into one black eye. The bird cocked its head, regarding him.  
  
Legolas reached out his hand. The bird hopped back a bit, and then it happened.  
  
A confusing welter of images - bird, eagle, lion, dove. Woman.  
  
Her shape shifted, stretched, up and up. Legolas found himself staring at a pair of small dainty feet, naked in the pebbles at the edge of the stream.  
  
He looked up, more slowly than courtesy would call seemly. But she was most fair. Feet, knees, hips, belly - slender and elven. His eyes would not obey his weakening will, and lingered on her full chest. He stood, and she stepped forward. The motion was enough to bring his eyes to her face.  
  
That face was almost enough to make him forget the delights that he had seen below. #So this is what enchantment feels like# Long black hair tangled in the wind, oddly familiar gray eyes sparkling with mirth, rich red mouth curved in a smile just for him.  
  
Arod snorted. Legolas forced his eyes closed.  
  
"Elf," she said. "You are elf, yet you travel with men, and not-men." Her voice should be silver bells on a morning breeze, to match a face like that. But it was harsh, perhaps from long disuse. Legolas' eyes flew open.  
  
"You war with the Men from the ships? Followers of Gorthaur? Be warned, they have more than you see. Three small rivers, a hill, then a valley filled with archers at camp."  
  
The wind picked up strands of his hair, the water babbled over the brookside, in the distance he heard his comrades repairing saddles and sharpening their swords. This was not elven reverie, she was still there and she was real. A gull, turned into a woman, who looked elvish and yet mortal and yet somehow divine.  
  
"Thank you for the warning, Lady Elwing," he said. He doffed his cloak, and offered it to her. He could not resist a quick glance downwards, though he berated himself for his weakness.  
  
She ignored the garment. "You know me. Who are you - who are they?"  
  
Legolas remembered his fellow travelers, and thought he understood why she had come here. "I travel with Elladan and Elrohir, the sons of Elrond. And Aragorn, who is a descendant of Elros."  
  
A smile lit her lips. "I know them, my children, then. But you..."  
  
She stepped forwards. Legolas had faced orcs and trolls and the dead without flinching, and yet this woman kept him pinned with her dark eyes and the remembered glory of her body. He fought not to step away.  
  
She raised a hand to his head and suddenly they were kissing. Her lips were slightly chapped, she taste of salt water and fish and some wild spice. Legolas parted his lips, surely to deny her, and was lost to the feel of her tongue and her heat. His hands spanned her narrow waist, glorying in her soft skin. The ends of her hair tangled with his, in the growing wind.  
  
A seagull cried, then another, as they quarreled over a fish pulled from the stream.  
  
Elwing startled back. For a moment, Legolas held her storm-trey gaze. Was it regret that darkened those eyes, or was it some more animal emotion? Her hand slipped from his hair, a caress. He drew his hands down her hips. She snuggled into him for a moment, and then she was changing again.  
  
Those beautiful features melted away, into snake, lion, eagle, horse, seagull. She launched herself into the melee of birds and was lost among the combatants. He grabbed at her tail, too late to grasp more than a single feather. Legolas could still taste her. Salt, smoke, want. He took a step towards the seagulls, and the entire flock took to the air.  
  
In the distance, he heard the sounds of the Dunedain breaking camp. He clutched the feather. Duty. Always a king's son knows about duty.  
  
"What took you so long?" Elladan asked. Legolas helped Gimli mount behind him, and tried to think of what to say.  
  
#I just kissed your grandmother# No, that would not go over well. Elladan and Elrohir gleamed with fell armor and grim purpose in the light of the stars, now that the overcast was broken. The light of Earandil. #This might take some explaining#  
  
"I... I saw the seagulls. We are nearing the ocean."  
  
"Ah, Galadriel warned us of this!" said Gimli.  
  
Aragorn nodded. "'Tis the sea-longing. Would that it came at a better time! For now we must ride, and ride hard. Can you fight, Legolas?"  
  
Legolas sat still for a moment, reliving the kiss. "Aye, I can fight." Swiftly, he told of the enemy dispositions, and the ambuscade laid out before them.  
  
The Dunedain mounted their horses, and prepared to ride to battle. Legolas helped Gimli up behind him.  
  
"So you're sure you're all right, laddie?" said Gimli. "You'll be able for this wee battle we're facing now?"  
  
Legolas smiled and touched his fingers to his lips. "Aye, I can fight. But when this fight is done, I must spend some time, by the sea." He looked to the sky. "In the light of day."  
  
"Alas, for the calling of the gulls!"  
  
Author's notes.  
  
A Legomance with a canon female character! Who isn't Arwen! What was I thinking?  
  
In the tradition of Legomances, I'm going to try to make these Author's Notes long and rambling and pointless.  
  
Those of you who've actually read the Silmarillion are saying, "Hey! Isn't Elwing married? With children? And six thousand years older than Leggy?"  
  
Well, yes, she is. But Earandil's been in outer space for six thousand years at this point, so I'm saying it counts as a trip to Mandos by now. And Elwing is only five-eigths elf anyhow, so she only has to be five- eigths faithful. At least, that's what I'm claiming in my long, rambling, never-to-be-finished and unlikely to be published Elwing/Maedhros romance.  
  
And what do you have against older women and younger men, hmmm? Are you claiming I've got no shot with Orlando? Them's fighting words (even if they're soooo true).  
  
I'm not sure why Elwing hasn't been Mary-Sue'd more often. She seems like the perfect candidate. She has magic powers beyond that of most elves. Shapechanging! Magic Jewelry! Tragic Past! Undefined Hair Color!  
  
So all you Mary Sur authors, please feel free to rewrite my little story offering. I'm happy to be an idea woman. 


End file.
